London, 27 July 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has today confirmed the
B1 corporate family rating (CFR), B1-PD probability of default
rating and B1 senior secured rating of InterGen N.V. (InterGen).
The outlook has been changed to negative from "ratings under review".
Moody's placed InterGen's ratings under review for downgrade
on 3 June 2021 following an explosion and fire at the Callide C coal-fired
power station in Queensland, Australia, which severely damaged
one of the plant's two units. The review also took into account
the failure of InterGen's Millmerran joint venture, which
also owns a coal-fired power station in Queensland, to refinance
AUD 212 million of project loans ahead of their maturity in June 2021.
Since the ratings were placed under review, InterGen has made a
GBP 12.1 million shareholder loan to Millmerran in order to secure
the refinancing of the project's term loan facility, announced
a further delay to the planned recommissioning of the Callide C power
station and paid a GBP 38 million dividend to its shareholders.
Although each of these developments is negative for InterGen's credit
quality, the confirmation of the ratings reflects Moody's
view that the risks are captured in the current rating and negative outlook.
RATINGS RATIONALE
RATIONALE FOR RATING AND OUTLOOK
InterGen's B1 rating and negative outlook reflect the likelihood
of lower dividends from its Australian joint ventures, uncertainty
over the terms of a lease extension at the site of its Rocksavage power
station in the UK and a financial policy that appears to prioritise dividend
distributions. Refinancing risk will rise as the June 2023 maturity
of most of InterGen's debt approaches, given weaker projected metrics
at that time and lenders' growing focus on ESG-related risks to
coal and gas generators.
On 13 July, following the extension of the June 2021 repayment,
InterGen announced that Millmerran had refinanced its AUD 555 million
debt facility into a new AUD 364 million, 5-year bank facility
due June 2026[1]. The deleveraging was achieved by use of
cash at the project and OzGen, an Australian holding company 50%-owned
by InterGen, and approximately AUD 70 million of new loans from
the project's shareholders, including GBP 12.1 million
from InterGen. InterGen initially believed that it would not need
to provide such direct support to the project. Annual debt amortisation
under the new facility, as well as expected repayment of the shareholder
loans in 2022, makes it unlikely that Millmerran will contribute
material dividends to InterGen in 2021 and 2022, although removal
of the 2023 bullet maturity makes distributions in subsequent years more
likely.
Both Callide C units remain offline following the fire on 25 May.
CS Energy Ltd., which operates the plant, now expects
Unit C4 to return to service in December 2022, significantly later
than its initial expectation of June 2022. Unit C3 returned to
service on 26 July, later than its original target of June 2021.
Although Moody's understands that Callide C has insurance for property
damage and business interruption for a significant part of the anticipated
outage, reduced cash flow and uncertainty around the cost of repairs
and timing of Unit C4's return to service is negative for InterGen's
credit quality.
InterGen remains in negotiations to extend its lease on the Rocksavage
site, which ends in March 2024. Although Moody's expects
InterGen and the landowner to agree an extension, failure to win
a capacity contract for 2025-26, the closure of this plant,
or a significant increase in lease expense would be credit negative for
InterGen.
InterGen also announced on 13 July that it would pay a dividend of GBP
38 million to its shareholders, an increase from the GBP 30 million
paid in 2020. InterGen had not paid material dividends for several
years prior to Sev.en Energy's acquisition of a 50% stake
in February 2019. Moody's regards the size of the dividend,
relative to projected funds from operations of around GBP 65 million in
2021, and its timing, ahead of resolving material uncertainties
and refinancing the June 2023 maturity, as negative for credit quality.
In addition, InterGen's B1 CFR continues to reflect the company's
significant exposure to volatility in wholesale energy prices and volumes,
structural subordination to the remaining project finance debt at Millmerran
and the Spalding Energy Expansion project, and relatively high carbon
intensity, mitigated by its efficient thermal generation fleet and
diversification across Great Britain and Australia. Although the
company's cash balances have been depleted by the dividend and shareholder
loan, they remain over GBP 100 million, providing scope to
deleverage ahead of or alongside the June 2023 bond maturity. Since
June 2021, InterGen has had the option to repay the $410
million (approximately GBP 300 million) of senior secured notes at par.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The outlook could be changed to stable following refinancing of the June
2023 debt maturity if Moody's believes InterGen will be able to maintain
FFO/debt sustainably above 8% and debt/EBITDA, based on consolidated
and unencumbered assets, declining toward 6x.
In the longer term, the ratings could be upgraded if InterGen maintains
FFO/debt consistently above 12% with prudent liquidity, or
if there were a significant increase in revenue visibility as a result
of long-term offtake contracts with creditworthy counterparties.
The ratings could be downgraded if FFO/debt appears likely to fall persistently
below 8% or if debt/EBITDA was persistently above 6x. The
ratings could also be downgraded if InterGen fails to secure liquidity
comfortably ahead of the 2023 debt maturity or pays further dividends
before doing so, or if there were changes in the company's business
profile that increased cash flow volatility without offsetting measures
to strengthen the balance sheet.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Unregulated Utilities
and Unregulated Power Companies published in May 2017 and available at
https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1066389.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, InterGen N.V.
is a holding company with a 3,269 MW portfolio in operations consisting
of four natural gas-fired power plants in the UK and two coal-fired
power plants in Queensland, Australia. InterGen N.V.
is owned by Sev.en Energy and China Huaneng Group Co.,
Ltd. (A2 stable).
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
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in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
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issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
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provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
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and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
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if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
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Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
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review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at http://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1288435.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
REFERENCES/CITATIONS
[1] EuroNext announcement, Millmerran Refinancing and Dividend,
12-Jul-2021, https://direct.euronext.com/api/PublicAnnouncements/RISDocument/Ann-Millmerran%20refi%20%20div-InterGen.pdf?id=39ceacde-5e92-4c05-b532-ed51bf4ce5b3
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Graham Taylor
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Infrastructure Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
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Neil Griffiths-Lambeth
Associate Managing Director
Infrastructure Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
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